A body found inside a suitcase which prompted a homicide investigation has been revealed as not human.
About 12.50pm on Sunday, police attended Wolgon Road near Oallen Ford Road, Oallen, after reports that a body had been located.
Police found the remains inside a suitcase on the side of the road, which is about 60 kilometres south of Goulburn.
Earlier on Monday police said the body had not been identified but it was believed to be a female adult.
However, in a mid-morning press conference Commander of the Hume Police District, Superintendent Linda Bradbury, told reporters she had some “good news”.
“So some good news here that... we don’t have a suspicious death of a human on our hands,” she said.
While she could not say what the remains were, forensic testing is underway to determine what it may be.
“They are very realistic in the terms of looking like human remains, but we’ve confirmed by other means that they are not.”
“Of course, we don’t like to disturb (the remains) too much in situ, particularly facing inclement weather yesterday and today.
“So the idea is to maintain the integrity of it.
“So we’ve been able to collect the remains and take them to investigations at forensics to determine that they are not human.”
Earlier, Superintendent Bradbury, told ABC 702 Sydney that the body had decomposed.
“We’re still conducting efforts to identify the remains,” she said.
“That is still underway as they are in a state of decomposition so that will take some time.
“Forensic examination is underway to assist us in identifying how long that suitcase has been there.”
She added that the discovery was made by two men who had pulled onto the side of the road by chance.
“They were able to tell us how they come across it,” she said on the Today Show.
“Unfortunately they were on a weekend drive as a lot of people do over the weekend and stopped for a break.
“(It was) quite a shocking discovery for them, absolutely.”
Police face challenging conditions in their investigation, as there is basically no CCTV in the area, nor any phone signal.
A crime scene has been established and an investigation has been launched by Strike Force Bryton, with help from the State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad.
The suitcase has been seized to undergo forensic examination.
Police are expected to release more information about 9.30am AEST.
Anyone with any information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
More to come...
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